Fabric Covered Poster Board Christmas Tree Cones

***updated 11/20/12.. I am now offering a newly designed PDF download of the tree cone patterns (5 sizes in one) and detailed tutorial for making fabric covered poster board tree cones. I have redesigned and made it so much easier to create fabric covered cones. You can see the latest information here.

I absolutely LOVE the fabulous and whimsical fabric covered Christmas cone trees that I have been seeing in stores this Christmas season. I fell in love with a BEAUTIFUL set of these trees at Neiman Marcus in Houston and wanted to buy them until I saw that each tree STARTED at $85.00! Yikes!! When I lifted one of the trees up to look a little closer, I realized that these fun trees were just cardboard that had been rolled into a cone and adorned with fabric and trim!

So I sat down, talked to my engineer neighbor and figured out how to make a template for the cone and now I can’t stop making them! They’re so fun and easy and I rest them on tall candle sticks/holders to raise them up and display them. Because the cones are hollow, they just slide ride over the candles holders and fit snug and will not move. Here is the picture of the holders I used without the cones:

Cones over candle sticks:

Here are so close ups of some of the trees:

The great thing about this project is that is very inexpensive. I used extra fabric and trim that I already had in my fabric bin and used poster board that I paid 3 for $1.00. I was a little worried about the poster board being sturdy enough but it turned out to be perfect because the way I created my template, I basically double up the poster board. Here is what the inside of the covered cone looks like:

These cone trees are super sturdy and I will be able to pack them away by covering in tissue and stacking them on top of each other and use them again next year. I used several different types of fabric and found that upholstery/drapery fabric worked the best.

There are so many endless possibilities with these cones!

***updated 11/20/12… This post is two years old and has been updated and I am now offering a PDF download of the cone patterns (5 sizes of cones all in one pattern) in my online shop. Included with the template download is a new tutorial which is different from the old tutorial here that I posted two years ago. I designed the template download in a way that we can now attach the fabric to the poster board first using pattern guide lines the rolling and securing the tree cone. The template and tutorial download eliminate several steps from the old tutorial and it is so much faster to create fabric covered cones. You can find out more about the templates here.

I’ll be posting some more fun Christmas projects in the next week, so please check back! Enjoy your Christmas crafting!

Step 1- Making the Cone Templates:

1) Take a piece of standard poster board and cut out a two inch strip down the longest side of the poster board like this:

2) Take a tack and push through one end of your strip. On the other end poke a hole with a knife or ice pick and push through your pencil like this (it needs to be a tight enough fit for the pencil to stand up:

3) Push the tack and strip through corner of new poster board (not the poster board that you used to cut your strip) and keep the tack corner over the edge of a counter like this:

4) While holding your tack with your left hand, with your right hand, gently start your pencil at #1 as seen in the picture below and use your strip as your line guide but make sure you do not pull so hard that the tack and corner are raised up. Draw your line until you run out of board and reach #2 as seen below (click on diagram picture for close up):

5) Cut out your template and it should look like this when your done:

6) Cut several short strips of packing tape and have them ready to grab as you begin rolling your cone.

7) The best way to begin rolling your cone is to start at the tip (#3 on above diagram)) and sort of fold/arch it over gently halfway at your tip (see my red dashes of where to arch and tuck) until you get a good point and HOLD! Now, go to the base of the cone and tuck until #2 is on top of #1 or until you have only the rounded curve (black dashes on diagram) around your base and hold! Go back to your tip and tape it down at the point to secure. In order for your cone to stand level, you can only have the curved edge where you drew your line (black dashes on diagram) on the bottom like this:

8) Once you have a good point at the tip of your cone and point #4 is completely tucked in the roll, secure the cone with packing tape vertically from the tip down to the bottom over the board edge. It took me a couple tries before I got my cone rolling down pat and now I can do it in my sleep!

9) To make a middle size cone, repeat the above steps but cut 4 inches off of your measuring strip. To make a small size cone, cut off 4 more inches off of your middle size measuring strip. I made 3 templates and now all I have to do is pull out my template to trace and no longer have to use a measuring strip.

Step 2- Covering the Cone in Fabric

1) Once you have your cone ready, lay out your fabric on a large surface. Again, keep in mind, upholstery/drapery fabric are ideal, heavy cotton is ok and velvet and stretchy fabrics are very challenging.

2) If you are using a solid fabric with no pattern or pattern that you do not care how it is laid out, lay your cone down on your fabric with the line/edge of the cone meeting the edge of the fabric. Be sure and allow an extra 1/2 inch at the tip like this:

3) With a black sharpie, trace along the base of the cone onto the fabric and then gently turn your cone and trace again (if you’ve ever done a fabric cover for a lamp shade, it’s the same technique) You will do this until your line/edge of your cone has made a full circle.

4) As you turn your cone to trace, watch and hold your tip so as your turn your cone, the tip of your cone also turns on the fabric as it would naturally roll as well. Like this.

5) Trace your cone until the edge/ line of the cone has made a full roll and draw a line on the fabric from the bottom to the tip to show where you should cut the fabric give an extra inch or so).

6) Cut out your fabric (cut inside black sharpie marks) and it should look like this :

7) Go outside and spray your cone completely and heavily with a good spray adhesive. I use Treehouse and it is awesome! Be sure and spray well, especially the tip.

8) Place your sprayed cone onto the fabric at the same position where you started when you began to trace onto the fabric.

9) Begin at the tip of your cone and roll the edge of the fabric up like this:

10) Now begin gently rolling the cone around the fabric, slightly pulling down and watching that you do not get creases. If you are using an upholstery fabric, you will not have to pull much and it should just perfectly roll and stick onto your cone.

11) You should have about two inches or less of fabric left over that you will need to go outside and spray to get it to stick to the rest of the fabric covered cone. I sprayed the loose fabric well, especially the tip like this:

12) Finish rolling the excess fabric gently onto the cone pressing down to get a flush line like this:

13) Trim any excess fabric around the base of your cone to get a perfect line around your base.

14) If you are using a pattern fabric that you do want to position on the tree a certain way, place your cone on your fabric in the middle of fabric with 1/2 inch extra at the tip and draw your line at the base and then roll half way to the right and draw your line at the base (draw line from base to tip as well). and then go back to the middle and then roll half way to the left and draw your line at the base and draw a line from base to tip and cut your fabric.

Emily, I just altered my post to better explain the candle stick base. I also included a picture of the holders without the cones. The cones fit perfectly and snuggly over the holders. Thanks for your comments and stopping by!

HEY Cyndy! Im your newest follower and CRAAAAAAZY about your blog! Those fabric trees…BRILLIANT!!! They are so PRETTY! I MAY can do this!! I would LOOOVE it if you would visit my blog and 14 days of christmas trees…I have a Giveaway you might like…I am SO GLAD i found your blog! Im gonna try these…cross your fingers 🙂

girl you were not joking and kidding around with your cone trees were you! they look amazing! I just popped by from tdc and I recently "attempted" trees like this…although nothing like yours! nice work!

I am loving these. I linked over from finding fabulous. I love your blog as well so I am your latest follower. I would love if you would check out my blog and follow me back. Thanks. diybydesign.blogspot.com

this is great, i bought some paper mache trees from hobby lobby and covered them with paper, but i was limited to the size the store sold. with this i can make them as BIG as i want. thanks for sharing.

I was just thinking about how I would go about doing a cone last night while trying to fall asleep. Slipping them over the candle sticks really brought this to the next level. Thanks for such a great tutorial, very thorough. 🙂

I LOVE THESE! Such a fun idea to be creative with! So bummed I don't have time for more Christmas crafting this year! Would love for you to visit me at Sew Chatty and link up to Made with Love Monday! The party will be open until Friday if you want to link up multiple projects. Hope you have a great day! http://sewchatty.blogspot.com

Oh yeah, here's one more WOW, those turned out FLIPPIN COOL as heck. I LOVE them, LOVE them I tell you. Please come link these to my Christmas party **6 weeks 2 JINGLE** I JUST HAVE TO HAVE THEM there. I must make me a little forest, of them, THANK YOU so much for a GREAT tutorial.

I also LOVE your blog, and am super happy I found you,,, I am your very HAPPY newest follower….

Thank you so much for sharing this wonderful Christmas decoration! I am charmed with your trees and impressed with your photos and writing style. I first saw your photo on HGTV RMS. Thank you, Suzanne in Florida

Thank you SOOO much to all of you!! I have tried to keep up with sending emails back to each of you but I confused myself with who I have emailed!!Hopefully I will figure it out! Thanks again, I am so blown away!Cheers!Cyndy

Thank you for the FABULOUS tutorial. I have wanted to make one of these but thought that I would have to buy one of those paper mache cones from the craft store that cost $1.99 each…and well, I'm just too frugal for that. Thanks so much!-Aaron

Thanks for the tips, especially the string compass! I made a couple of cardboard trees using a surprisingly large piece of cardboard I found after finishing a roll of wrapping paper. The string worked great.

Very cute! I hope I get around to this porject soon! I would imagine that if you got some iron on interfacing to back your cotton fabrics with they would roll onto the cones as easily as drapery fabrics.

Love this! Thank you so much for the tutorial….Can't wait to try one myself and I want to share on my blog with a link to back to you. Perfect way of using those old candlesticks that have been put away….I'm thinking of a grouping for Halloween…spidery material….black feathers…..bling….

Just found your site via Tatertots and Jello and I LOVE it! I'm looking forward to making these trees and trying the screen print pillows. You are definitely the inspiration I needed to get off the couch and craft again! Thank You!!

Hi there, Great tutorial! It’s not easy to write a tutorial and get down to the very basics so those of us (me) who are a bit slow can follow along quite nicely! Well done! I have a couple of questions but I’m sure you’ve already tried all of this. Instead of using the 2″ length of paper as a guide still use the push pin but use string with a Sharpie attached to create the pattern (make a string compass)? Also, would it not be easier to leave the poster board pattern flat and then cut out the fabric with that pattern then shape the poster board into a cone? Would have to remember to have extra fabric so fold over. Thanks gain for a great and easy-to-follow tutorial, Cathy

I think I would be tempted to add the fabric before rolling the cones. Any reason that would not work? You have done this and I haven’t so I need your input. Looks like I could just trim around the bottom with something and not have to fold the fabric over the inside. Would that work?

To make the cone sit higher on a shorter holder, I would cut a circle out of foam board and glue it to the top of the holder. That way the cone sits on the foam board circle rather than resting on the holder itself. You can adjust the height of the cone on the holder by adjusting the size of the circle that you cut. Cut larger, cone sits higher, cut smaller circle, cone sits lower. Hope this is a helpful hint!

Just want to say, I came over from pinterest, which I’m new too and love these trees of yours! I can’t wait to see how I do on a set of them, and I just happen to have a little mix of Christmas fabric to try them out of! thanks so much…:)

These are lovely….I do not sew, so I did not have scrap fabric. I am a scrapbooker and I had some decorative paper; so I made a smaller version and made three cone trees with co ordinating paper. I placed them on my existing candle holders and the look fabulous!! If I knew how to post a photo, I would surely do so. I would like to try the fabric cone trees, but this was a quick, easy, cheap and lovely project.

As far as fabric goes, for the large cone I would say you would need a little bit more than a 3/4 yard with a lot of fabric left over. You need enough to completely roll it around. If you make your cones narrow, you can do it with a 1/2 yard. For the medium size you can get 2 or 3 medium cones out of a 1/2 and for the small cone you can get 5 plus out of half yard. Again, because you need the length and you have to roll, it’s an odd shape and takes more of the length of the fabric but you can use the left over fabric for other sizes. I hope that helps!

I would love for you to send me pics of your party and finished cones! Thanks for visiting Debbie!!

I’m in the process of making these and am wondering how you made the tip look finished? I haven’t started with the spray adhesive yet but am afraid I’ll have a funky shape at the tip. Anyway, I’ll go give it a try and see what happens. Yours are very beautiful – hoping mine turn out as well! Thanks!!

Hi Tanya! I hope you figured it out, just got to my emails. You probably know by now that your poster board tip does not have to be perfect or even close to it. Once you roll your fabric around, you will make a perfect fabric tip. If it’s not perfect, tuck and glue and work with it! Have fun!

Have you tried cutting the material with the same pattern as cone and gluing the fabric on before rolling the cone? I’m sure it would take a little more material, but I’m wondering if it might be easier to cover. Any thoughts?

Yes, I have tried covering the poster board with fabric and then rolling but I have found it doesn’t work as well because you have to attach it somehow and I felt like taping it prior to covering with fabric holds the cones together better long term. The only way to attach after rolling with the fabric on the poster board would be with hot glue and it’s hard enough to hold the cone together after you have rolled it, let alone trying to hot glue it if that makes sense. The tape allows you to instantly hold together your cone shape. Thanks Kate!

Love these! Thinking they’d be great sitting on an urn as well. I’m thinking I’ll make a fabric template out of poster board too, so I can have a pattern and not have to roll to cut the fabric each time. I like to. Work on a handy piece of foam board far many crafts, so the push pin corner would be easier! I see these becoming an obsession, so I’m planning ahead to make multiples!

I absolutely love these. You have no idea how relieved I am to find your tutorial. I have been contemplating making these and after looking at prices for Styrofoam cones I just had to pass because for one they are not cheap and for two the sizes are very similar, not alot to work with but now I can go cone crazy.. Thanks so much 🙂

Thanks Joni! The templates and my Etsy store are not set up yet but we should be in business by the end of the week. I will send you an email when the store is ready. Thank you for your interest and stopping by!

I REALLY love these trees, but can’t seem to find the info on the base? What is it you are using and how are you attaching them??? I must be missing something since no one else seems to be asking! Can’t wait to make some of these!

I talked about in the tutorial and even showed pictures that I use candlesticks. Not sure how you missed that! LOL! If you go back and read through the whole tutorial you will see how I do it. Thanks so much Erin!

We just decorated with cone trees that were left from a store closing (their decorations for Christmas) and decided we need to replicate the idea in a smaller version for table centerpieces. We are using leftover Christmas wrapping paper.

Your cone trees are gorgeous! Thank you so much for sharing how you made them. I made a few trees from your instructions you shared and they came out great! I hope it’s okay, I did a little round-up of these cone trees and just couldn’t resist featuring yours.. especially since your instructions were so helpful to me. You can see it here:

These are trees are so great! Depending on what kind of fabric or trim you use, they can be cute or elegant. I used wine & champagne glasses as bases because I didn’t have enough candle holders. Use card stock circles or stuff the tree with paper towel if you need them to sit up higher. Thank you so much! I did them without the template but wish I would have just bought it–would have been easier for sure.

Thank you for a wonderful craft project. I can’t believe that someone was selling them for the big buck that you mentioned. I made 5 for my new christmas redo and love the results. Your instructions were perfect. Thanks again. You are my new favorite craft guru. Happy Holidays to you, Kevin

These are beyond beautiful and just what I need now that we have downsized to an apartment. Never content to just take a pattern and make it as is I have a suggestion to tweak these trees. Adhesive is expensive and difficult for me to use as I am in a wheelchair and live in cold Minnesota—so I am going to try attaching the fabric to the cone by sewing it on with my sewing machine and a heavy duty needle. So I’ll take a hunk of fabric large enough to cover the cone, sew it down with straight lines or freeform machine quilting, then cut off excess fabric. If that goes well I’ll think about adding a layer of quilt batting on the next one and get more of a 3-D effect. What do you think?

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